Israel provides reason for support

The author of Monday's letter titled "Israel has enough support
from United States" made startling accusations against the state of
Israel. I feel compelled to respond to this letter because the
question of Israel's right to self-defense and right to exist is
the most obvious moral question of our time.

The author's worst moral equivalence was the explicit comparison
between Palestinians and Jews who were victims of the Nazi
genocide. Implicitly, this comparison can be carried to compare
Israeli occupying forces in the West Bank and Nazi Gestapo's who
rounded up Jews, Communists, Gypsies, homosexuals and other
undesirables. This is a sickening comparison because there is no
legitimate comparison to be made. The land that Israel currently
occupies was never a part of a Palestinian homeland. Between the
years 1948 and 1967, Jordan occupied this territory much in the
same way Israel currently does. In 1967, after winning a decisive
victory in a defensive war against Arab aggressors, Israel
liberated Jerusalem and conquered the rest of the West Bank, the
Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula, and the Golan Heights. Israel did
not want this war to occur, nor has it wished for any war during
its existence. Israel has since given up most of the conquered
territory in return for the promise of peace. The author makes no
reference to Israel's sacrifices, but he does reference the United
Nations partition of the Palestinian mandate. Again, he fails to
mention that the Jews accepted the partition, while their Arab
neighbors rejected it. Is this at all analogous to the Holocaust?
No. In fact, in 1941, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Mohammad Amin
al-Husayni met with Adolf Hitler to plan the Fuhrer's conquest of
Palestine. Hitler planned on making the Mufti a puppet of Hitler's
vassal state, and the two men planned on establishing death camps
in the holy land.

The author writes that the possibility of Israel offering the
West Bank to the Palestinians is as likely as the "the United
States giving back land stolen from the Native American peoples."
That statement is objectively wrong. Israel has twice offered to
give 97 percent of the West Bank to the Palestinian Authority, but
Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas both rejected this compromise,
which former President Bill Clinton argued was a fair deal. Israel
also has unilaterally withdrawn from the Gaza Strip, given up the
Sinai Peninsula in exchange for peace with Egypt, and has made
peace with Jordan. Throughout its short history, Israel has proven
to be an adept dealmaker with its former enemies. There is no
reason why Israel should not be able to make peace with the
Palestinians. The blame largely lies at the feet of the
Palestinians, not the Israelis.

At the very root of the Israeli-Palestinians conflict is the
failure of the Palestinian, Arab and Muslim leadership to accept
certain compromises — namely that Israel has a historical right to
exist and to defend itself against terrorism and invading armies.
Even to this day, the president of Iran pledges to destroy Israel.
At this very moment, the terrorist organization Hezbollah is — with
Iran's aid — illegally rearming itself on Israel's northern border
with Lebanon. Israeli President Shimon Peres has recently disclosed
that Syria is supplying Hezbollah with Scud missiles to hit Israel.
The terrorist organization Hamas still maintains its illegal grip
on the Gaza Strip. And yet, the author argues that our support for
Israel should be more tepid, and our embrace of these Muslim
extremists should be warmer and tighter.

There is a reason why Israel enjoys the support of the vast
majority of Congress, and the majority of Americans, regardless of
political affiliation. Americans, like Israelis, are generally
moral, law-abiding people who want peace and security. Before
"looking for new allies in the Middle East," America should
reaffirm its support for Israel by standing up against those who
wish it harm, whether they are terrorists in Tehran or bureaucrats
in the United Nations.

Noah Glyn is a School of Arts and Sciences sophomore majoring in
economics and history.